Sunday, May 12, 2013

Edith Jane Eileen Catton

The other "Mother's Day" post below is from two years ago though the content has been updated to reflect what's happening today - which is pretty much the same. Wow, how boring is my life!?!

But while I love to pay tribute to "mothers of blogdom" I also want to pay tribute to Edith Jane Eileen Catton - my amazing mother. That's her in the picture and my two brothers and one of my sisters. I'm the wee one with the pout. I have a few pictures of myself at that age and I often pulled a pout - even then I wanted to always have my own way! Stubborn little puss I was!

Somehow my mother had the patience of Job. By the time I rolled around she had already parented 4 other children and probably didn't have much patience left! Happily for her my two sisters were (and still are haha) 9 and 11 years older than me so they pitched in to help raise me. Even so I had enormous admiration for my mother - she was someone I aspired to be like when I grew up even though she was very much unlike my "cookies and milk" friends' mothers. When I came home after school it wasn't to cookies and milk, oh no, it was to the sound of the typewriter keys being tapped away in another room, a room with the door closed.

And while I might have wished for "cookies and milk" I was also filled with pride because my mother was so very different from other mothers. She was so so intelligent - she wrote stories whenever she could carve out some time from caring for 5 children and a husband. She was a stay-at-home mother except for one day a week when she worked at the local "Sales Barn" where farmers brought their critters to market. She helped with the accounting. And she also sold her stories so you can imagine my heart swelling with pride when she'd purchase a Jack and Jill magazine for me and there was her name in print beside the title of the story she'd written!

So while I had to forage in the kitchen by myself it was worth it. No doubt it helped me become a more resourceful child - I don't remember ever resenting her for being behind a closed door when I came home from school. I knew she was special! While other mothers slopped around downtown in slippers and curlers she was creating!  When she did go downtown she was very well turned out. We weren't very well off but boy did she have STYLE!!

I grew up in a different generation from my older sisters. I grew up not thinking about marriage or having kids when I was finished highschool- I grew up thinking I could become a writer or anything else I wanted. I knew that I would work and have a career. There were many bumps along my road and I didn't do things in the usually accepted way but then neither did my mother. I admired her for being so different from the average mom so is it any wonder that I have lived such an unorthodox life?

Edith Jane Eileen Harrison - I wouldn't have it any other way!!

12 comments:

  1. Nice story Jane.

    Looks like you hit it in the Mother lottery.....

    Sneaky me went and found your family tree btw.

    I love the pic of your mom taken when she was a teen that I found.

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  2. Wasn't she a beauty!?! I have one of my dad too, he was such a hunk! I don't know the process but they were originally black and white photos with watercolour added somehow. I can't wait til I have the time to spend on ancestry.ca again!

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  3. What an inspirational story about your Mom, Jane! sounds like she truly was an amazing woman!


    Happy Mother's day to you!

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  4. Yes, the one of your dad with the piercing blue eyes is dreamy. ;-)

    So who is this Dan Catton who posted your mom's photos? A cousin of yours?

    Yes, back in the day you could get a kit or have a professional hand paint your b&w photos. My mom tried it on some of our photos, using a q-tip for a brush.

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  5. Yes, he's my mom's oldest brother's oldest son:) My uncle's name is Frederick and he's around 93 or 94. We have a good longevity gene on that side of the family. Their mother lived to be 94 (my gramma Ida Belle Catton) and her mother lived to be either 106 or 108 - I've seen several different dates of birth for her. Lydia Jane - she was a feisty one too!

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  6. She was definitely unique for her era! Thank you Lena!

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  7. Well I just knew your mom had to be amazing... only an amazing mom can raise an amazing daughter like you!! :) Happy Mother's Day, my friend!!

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  8. Very nice story. Thanks for sharing, and hope you had a great weekend!

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  9. This is such a lovely tribute to your mother Jane. She would be awful proud to know the courage and independence she instilled in you.

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  10. How blessed you are to have such an inspiration in your life.
    And I have been stalking you for a while, I read that the first time around!!!!!

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  11. hi jane, just wanted to say hi, hope all is well with you and that you're OK, we miss you :)

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  12. Hi Jane! It's good to catch up on things going on in your life. I am sure you are in PEI for the summer! I hope are are having lots of fun! Keep in touch http://micommoncents.wordpress.com.


    Sarah

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Thank you for your comment - it means a lot to me that you read my post and are leaving a comment - you just made my day!